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Tippecanoe County commissioners approve first reading of one-year moratorium on large-scale solar projects
Summary
The Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 on first reading June 2 to pause new permitting and siting of large-scale solar energy systems in unincorporated Tippecanoe County for one year while officials revise zoning rules and safety standards.
The Tippecanoe County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 on first reading June 2 to impose a one-year moratorium on the siting, construction, permitting and deployment of large-scale solar energy systems in unincorporated areas of the county.
County legal counsel outlined the ordinance’s scope and rationale. Douglas (Doug) told the board the draft tracks a new state provision — “11:9.5 effective 07/01/2025” — and limits the moratorium to large-scale systems, which the county’s zoning defines as installations of roughly 10 acres or more used to sell generated electricity. He said the pause is intended to give the county time to address concerns including construction impacts on infrastructure, drainage and decommissioning plans. “This only applies to unincorporated Tippecanoe County,” Doug said during the presentation, adding incorporated cities and towns are not covered by the draft moratorium.
Commissioners said the moratorium is not intended as an anti-solar ban but as time to fix perceived gaps in the existing ordinance. After roughly two hours of public comment both for and against, Commissioner Brown moved to place the ordinance on first reading; the motion passed with Brown, Murtaugh and Byers voting yes. The board scheduled the second reading for June 16.
The public comment period included developers and property owners on opposite sides of the proposal. Opponents of the moratorium — including Ryan Munden, attorney for Rainbow Trout Solar LLC — urged the commissioners to reject the pause, saying the applicant has been working under existing rules and was three weeks from a Board of Zoning Appeals hearing. “We have operated transparently through the process and based on the rules that we had,” Munden said, asking the board not to use the moratorium to halt the pending project.
Residents and community groups who supported the moratorium cited concerns about scale, potential impacts on farmland, drainage and public-safety questions tied to battery energy storage systems. Kenny McClary, representing neighbors, said the pause would allow the county to craft “appropriate guardrails” that protect landowners, adjacent properties and emergency responders. The League of Women Voters of Greater Lafayette submitted written comments urging the board to rely on provisions already in the county’s zoning ordinance — such as stormwater management, native vegetation under panels, setbacks, fencing and a decommissioning surety bond — rather than enact a moratorium.
County staff and commissioners noted several technical points in the draft that they said should be corrected before second reading, including an exception clause that Doug recommended removing because the moratorium is intended to apply only to unincorporated areas. Commissioners discussed whether the review of the ordinance could be completed sooner than the one-year window the draft allows.
What happens next: the board set the second reading for June 16. If the moratorium is adopted on second reading, county departments would not accept new applications for large-scale solar projects in unincorporated Tippecanoe County during the moratorium period; smaller “community-scale” projects under 10 acres and building-mounted solar would not be affected.
Sources: County counsel’s ordinance summary; public testimony at the June 2 Tippecanoe County Board of Commissioners meeting.
